So I saw on the "New and Hot" display at the library another Dune prequel/sequel/interstitial-quel, "Paul of Dune", and I brought it home.

It's actually a bit better than the other add-ons so far, probably because it's using original characters instead of new ones, but it still reminds me of the adage, "Never send a boy to do a man's work." The original Dune series dealt with the most grown-up topics: sex, religion, politics, big business. The add-ons remind me of the Star Trek fanfic that explored weighty topics like crew hobbies, letters home, decorating their quarters, and how the toilets worked. I.e., it's nice to see the familiar faces and places, but they're just not being themselves. The authors don't have Frank Herbert's sophisticated gravitas.

Oh, they're trying, but just making a character ruthless and bloodthirsty does not substitute for the mien of someone who has really known hardship and battle, something Herbert got. He was able to do the hard stuff like how plotters could be devious enough to defeat someone who could see the future. He'd tackle the issues of prophecy and jihad and being a god head-on, where his heirs dance in the periphery: "But what did they do on their days off?" sort of thing. Nice try.

Speaking of hobbies, what did Paul Atreides do in his off time?

Sand worms.

Okay, that's rotten. My thought here was that I've thought about adding a "reviews" forum here so that I could get the words thought and here into this sentence several more times, here; thoughts?

Eh, sounds a bit too formal. I wasn't reviewing, I was ranting, I put it here instead of the soapbox only because it was SF and I wasn't swearing.

You think most reviews here would be anything but ranting? I've read several books lately I wanted to take out full page ads in the NYTRB and warn people off of. Posting the negate here for the six or so readers who venture by would be an acceptable second.

No, I meant that I would feel that a forum titled "Reviews" presumed a more erudite and thoughtful posting than the one I was prepared to make, and so I wouldn't have put it there anyway, regardless of what your expectations might have been. I know we have the Tertius U. forum for the really erudite stuff, but still... I think we got enough fora.

I haven't read any of the add-ons, probably because I love Dune almost as much as "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" and have rarely liked add-ons by anybody to any work or series of works I loved. Not that all of the Dune books were great or even good; Herbert was a very uneven writer. But the best of them deserve their place in the pantheon.